Mayor de Blasio Passes Community Safety Act

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has dropped the lawsuit against the Community Safety Act that was filed under former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Bloomberg had vetoed several provisions of the bill and even said he would use his own wealth to pay council members not to override him.

NAACP Celebrates the Victory

Hazel N. Dukes, President of the NAACP New York State Conference, said, \"This is a victory for the people of New York City and confirmation of Mayor de Blasio's commitment to end racial profiling by the NYPD.\"

Ending Stop-and-Frisk and More

With this act, stop-and-frisk will be a thing of the past. It allows any individual who feels they have been subjected to any type of profiling—racial or otherwise—to step forward and bring discrimination claims against the New York Police Department. The Office of the Inspector General will now act as a watchdog over the NYPD.

\"The NAACP commends Mayor de Blasio for dropping the lawsuit against the Community Safety Act and fulfilling his campaign promise to help end racial profiling and stop-and-frisk abuses in New York,\" said Dr. Niaz Kasravi, NAACP National Criminal Justice Director.

Expanding Protections

The Community Safety Act is aimed at ending discriminatory policing and bringing real accountability to the NYPD. This bill expands protections against discrimination not only based on race, ethnicity, religion, and national origin but also age, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, immigration status, disability, and housing status. New York residents would be able to bring intentional discrimination claims and/or disparate impact claims, though not for monetary damages.